The three of them went their separate ways from Akari. As Ayato was returning to the hall, Kaede called out to him.
"Hey!"
"Yeah, what do you need?"
He turned to the girl who followed him. Kaede resolved herself.
"What... what is Saya Kyouya like?"
"..."
Ayato silently stared at her.
"Are you the daughter of Narumi Asanagi?"
The girl nodded. Ayato looked at the ground before scratching his temple.
The Asanagi Family have been out of touch with Saya ever since she ran away from home 18 years ago. They haven't been keeping in touch with her or seen her at all within that time. It was only natural that they didn't know of her death.
Kaede wanted to know since she had only been hearing bad things about Saya. Everyone in the Asanagi Family shuns her because she defected to the Kyouya Family.
However, it was only the patriarch, Narumi Asanagi, who would say good things about her. Kaede wanted to know more about her aunty. She wanted to meet her.
Ayato gulped his saliva.
"It's not 'is.' It's 'was.'"
"Huh? You mean..."
"10 years ago, in the year, 2095, 9th September, there was an attack on the Midnight Banquet. On that day, Saya Kyouya died."
Kaede bitterly smiled.
"When I had finally found a clue..."
She muttered with a tear in her eye. Ayato smiled, knowing that someone else wanted to know about his mother.
"These eyes are something I got from her. When she was alive, I was never able to use them but with her last dying breath, she allowed me to use the Blue Eyes. There's no one dearer to my heart than my mother."
"Is that so? Well, thank you and I'm sorry for what I said when we first met. Unfortunately, you're not participating. I would've liked to see the power of a World Magician for myself."
"Yeah, me too. Now that I know that there are strong people like you, I want to participate myself."
Kaede turned and waved.
"I'll see you another time."
"Right,"
He waved back as she walked toward the hotel buildings. Ayato scratched his head.
"Ah, I guess she's not returning to the banquet."
·———·
The second day of the Seven Star Tournament.
"Huh?"
"No way?"
"Is this some sort of mistake or trick?"
"There's no way that Auralia wouldn't use it to their advantage..."
On the morning of the first competition day, the events and participants list was shown to everyone. Rather than check the other schools, everyone checked Auralia for Ayato's name. Everyone's reaction was a mix of disbelief, shock and relief.
[Welcome, everyone!]
In the Stellar Sky arena, everyone cheered fantastically as the Seven Star Tournament commentator spoke.
[It's another Seven Star Tournament but at an unusual time of year! No matter because I'm still the same Miru-chan!]
The commentator was a delusional idol who claimed to be eternally 17 years old. Perhaps she appeared like a high schooler, but she's been commentating for the Seven Star Tournament for 13 years.
If someone even mentions her age, she gets angry. Everyone goes along with it, however.
[It's been almost a year since the last one! Well, of course since this is an annual tournament! I'll be commentating on these tournaments because of how fun it'll be! Without further ado, let's get onto our first game, Tri-Fall!]
The crowd cheered at the announcement of the first game.
Tri-Fall was a 3v3 match between two schools on a floating platform in the sky. No direct attack spells could be used but hitting people physically was allowed.
The two teams would start equal distance from each other and start to fight each other in a 10-minute match. The goal was to knock people off the platform. When they hit the water underneath, they would count as eliminated.
In the event of a tie, the two schools would choose their best player and pit them against each other. In a single minute of a brawl, whoever sustained more damage or was knocked off would win.
The first two teams got on the floating platform.
[We have the first preliminary round! Each year, we have an extra school team participate because there are seven prestigious magic schools! We really should change it to eight!]
Some people laughed at the joke.
[This year, the team that's been split into two will be Hortensia! The Hortensia Team A will battle against Orchid!]
On one side of the platform were three people in red and white battle uniforms while on the other side were people in white and black uniforms.
[On the Hortensia Team A are Asuma Koseki, Sakura Chibana, and Katie Miyami. Ah, just to announce, once participants from Hortensia are in one team, they can't defect to the other for any event. They seem to have split their four prodigies evenly into both teams.]
"Wouldn't it be cool if Team A and Team B fought each other in the finals?"
Asuma asked the others. They were stretching before the match started.
[As for the Orchid Team, they have Asaka Fujina, Rin Aoki, and Touya Duruma. Asaka is their student council president while Rin is their vice president! This will be an interesting battle!]
Asaka was the girl with grey hair who Ayato met yesterday. She was the student council president of Orchid.
[Weapons are allowed in Tri-Fall, as long as they aren't ranged weapons that exert spells. For example, a normal bow or a mana-powered gun is allowed but a magic bow or gun is not.]
Hortensia A had a long axe and a mana-powered gun. Sakura wielded the axe while Katie had the gun. Any dangerous physical attacks would be nullified by the uniform that they wore. It would only work against sharp objects but not hammers.
Orchid possess a warhammer and fisticuffs. Touya had fisticuffs and Rin had the warhammer.
A maximum of two weapons were allowed per team.
[Now, I think it's time to start! Start the countdown to disaster! Count with me, everyone!]
["5!"]
The four brandished their weapons.
["4!"]
Asaka put on a battle stance as Asuma slammed his fists together with a large grin.
["3, 2, 1!"]
[Are you ready?! Start!]
The first match of the tournament began—Tri-Fall.